Arthritis Summit Day 2

April 18, 2012

United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.

It’s 1:15 AM and I’m exhausted but I want to write a little update about yesterday’s events. My Minnesota group met with Senator Al Franken yesterday evening at his office on Capitol Hill. The meeting went well, I think, and he seemed interested and receptive to what we had to say regarding him supporting arthritis issues and the Patients’ Access to Treatments Act of 2012 (H.R. 4209). Supporting this bill would help improve access to medications for people with arthritis which can prevent disability. It would also end the discrimination and excessive cost-sharing of these medications with regard to insurance companies forcing patients to pay incredibly high co-pays and co-insurance because of how many of the drugs are designated as “specialty tier” medications (i.e. biologic medications which cost thousands of dollars per treatment/month – I currently take one of these, Remicade). Even though Senator Franken spent about 25 minutes with us (which is a long time for these meetings, we were told), I admit I am disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to talk to him and tell him my story of living with arthritis. I didn’t even get to say my name! So, yeah, that’s a bummer – especially since he is the one legislator with whom I was looking forward to speaking. Oh well. Hopefully I’ll get another chance sometime.

Today was a really good day though. The weather was warm and sunny and beautiful. Walking around the Capitol was a surreal experience – I couldn’t believe I was actually there. Our group also sat in for a bit on a session of the House and that was really interesting to see. Other fantastic things yesterday included inspiring, motivating speeches and training we had before our Senate meetings. I continue to meet really nice, wonderful people from all over the country who are here for the summit. And, kind of fun, yesterday evening after dinner I did a little radio interview and talked a bit about how arthritis affects my life. These “hometown radio interviews” are supposed to get passed on to our local stations, however nobody can tell me more information about when they’ll air. It was fun to do though! After Day 2 of the summit, I’m incredibly wiped-out and my ankles are killing me, but I’m also more energized and motivated now than I have been in a long time. The inspiration and excitement continues…to Day 3, I hope!

And – I did start to upload some photos to Flickr if you’re interested: